Taylor Swift, ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ – Song Review

Men and women will be divided on ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,’ Taylor Swift‘s new single. On one (woman’s) hand, it’s an empowering breakup song that slams the door on every no-good loser who’s come crawling back with apologies and “I love yous” (and maybe flowers or a sack of White Castle hamburgers) at all hours of the night. From the male perspective: “Get over it.”

Swift captures the anger of young love gone wrong better than anyone since, well… Taylor Swift. She is the duchess of disdain. Scorn pours through each note and every breath of this first single from her upcoming ‘Red’ album. If the other 15 tracks offer more of the same, the male gender has reason to worry, be afraid, cry, leave the country.

“I remember when we broke up the first time / Saying this is it I’ve had enough, cause like / We hadn’t seen each other in a month / When you said you needed space / What,” Swift sings to begin the song.

She ramps up to the first chorus of ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ before shouting:

“We are never ever, ever, getting back together / We are never ever, ever, getting back together / You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me / We are never ever, ever, getting back together.”

Unlike many of Swift’s biggest hits, the new song offers a melody that’s difficult to embrace quickly. She also turns the camera on herself more than ever. While we all knew previous songs were about her often famous romantic encounters, she never outright admitted it in the song like she does when she sings:

“I’m really gonna miss you picking fights / And me, falling for it screaming that I’m right / And you would hide away and find your piece of mind / With some some indie record that’s much cooler than mine [laughs].”

Later, she offers a clip of what sounds like home video conversation between her and a good friend. This is important because the best country songs leave the story open-ended for listeners to fill in their own details. When those details are specifically spelled out for us, we tend to lose interest. So the question becomes, is Swift’s passion and indignation enough to overcome this? Well, yes it is.

‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ will appear on the new ‘Red’ album, due in stores October 22.